Lighting system for toy automobiles



Dec. 19, 1933. L, STROHACKER 1,939,733

LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR TOY AUTOMOBILES Filed Dec. 17, 1952 520672 zvr [011w Jfrokacker Patented Dec. 19, 1933 LIGHTING SYSTEM roa TOY AUTOMOBILES Louis Strohacker, Freeport, Ill.,

assignor to .Structo Manufacturing Company, Freeport, Ill.,

a corporation of Illinois Application December 17, 1932 Serial No. 647,839

2 Claims.

This invention relates to lighting systems for toy automobiles, and its principal object is to provide novel means for obtaining dim, medium or bright light effects for the headlights and tail light with which the toy is equipped. This effect has been obtained with the use of a plurality of electric batteries arranged in series with a system of wiring and a switch whereby the current may be tapped of one or more of the batteries as is desired to obtain the desired degree of light intensity. The invention consists in the several novel features hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a toy automobile, partly broken out, and equipped with a lighting system embodying a simple form of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail cross section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the electric system. 3

Referring to said drawing which illustrates the preferred embodiment of .the invention, the reference character 4 designates a toy automobile of conventional design having the usual head- 7 lights 5 and tail light 6 mounted on the body of thetoy. The headlights and tail light contain small electric lamps one terminal of which is grounded on the frame of the toy and the other connected to a conductor wire running to the switch and batteries.

Conveniently the batteries '7, 8, 9 may be supported from the bottom 10 of the toy in a battery holder 11 having side walls 16, spotwelded,riveted or otherwise'rigidly secured to the bottom of the toy. Desirably the batteries are arranged in line with each other, in series, and the battery holder is struck up with down turned flanges 12 connected by an upwardly concaved port 13 that forms a seat against which the batteries are placed and held in place by spring strips 14 which bear against the undersides of the batteries and press against flanges 15 formed on the lower edges of the side walls 16 of the battery holder.

At the ends of the series of batteries and interposed between the opposite poles of the batteries are contact pieces 17, 18, 18 19, of which the contact pieces 17, 18, 18 conveniently may be supported from a strip of insulating material supported from some convenient part of the toy and the contact piece 19 may be supported by some part of the automobile body and grounded thereon.

said switchboard is a switch arm 22 which is arranged to make contact with any of several eo terminal contact points 23, 24, 25 (here shown in the form of eyelets fastened in the switchboard) and thereby close any of the circuits for the lamps. An eyelet 26 desirably is used to connect the switch arm 22 with the switchboard and to a clip 26 and from said clip extend conductor cords 2'7, 28 that run respectively to the headlight lamps and to the tail light lamp which are mounted on the body of the toy.

From the terminal contact point 23 a conduo- 7o tor wire 29 runs to the contact piece 17; from the contact point 24 runs a conductor wire 30 to the contact piece 18, and from the contact point 25 runs a conductor wire 31 to the contact piece 18*. These conductor wires complete the circuits for the lamps from the switch to the several batteries, whereby one or more of the batteries may be included in the lamp circuit to give a dim, medium or bright light effect. The dim light circuit may be traced from the switch arm 22, -30 through contact point 25, conductor 31 contact piece 18 battery 9, contact piece 19 to ground and back from ground through lamps 5, 5 and 6 through wires 27, 28 to the switch arm. The medium light circuit may be traced from the switch arm 22 through contact point 24, conductor 30 to contact piece 13, through battery 8, contact piece 18 battery 9 and contact piece 19 to ground. Similarly the bright light circuit can be traced through the three batteries. a

With this simple arrangement of circuits, small children may readily obtain the degrees of light intensities desired for illuminating the lamps, which makes the toy especially attractive and desirable.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a lighting system for toy automobiles, the combination of a metal toy automobile structure, several electric batteries carried by the toystructure and arranged in alignment, in series, contact pieces carried by the toy structure and contacting with the poles at the ends of said series of batteries, one of which contact pieces is insulated and one grounded, insulated contact 3 pieces carried by the toy structure and interposed between and contacting with the positive and negative poles of adjacent batteries, and a switch mounted on the toy structure and having contact points each electrically connected with an switch carried thereby, said switch having sev-' eral contact points, electric lamps carried by the toy structure, several batteries placed end to end with the positive pole of one adjacent the negative pole of the next adjacent one, contact pieces one contacting with the positive pole of an end battery, one contacting with a negative pole of another end battery, and one interposed between and contacting with the negative pole of one battery and the adjacent positive pole of the'other battery, said contact pieces being electrically connected with the switch arm and contact points of the switch.

' LOUIS STROHACKER.

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